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Navarrete, Martín Fernández de

Navarrete, Martín Fernández de
märtēn´ fārnän´dĕth dā nävärā´tā [key], 1765–1844, Spanish historian and hydrographer. Joining (1780) the Spanish navy, he entered (1796) the navy department and later established its hydrographic office. After Napoleon took Spain, Navarrete retired (1809). In 1823 he became director of the hydrographic office. In 1824 he was made director of the Royal Academy of History, which at his instigation and under his editorship began the great
Colección de documentos inéditos
(112 vol., 1842–95). This compilation of Spanish historical sources is especially valuable for information about the 16th cent. Navarrete is also famous for his collection (5 vol., 1825–37) of narratives of Spanish voyages of discovery of the late 15th and 16th cent.